FreeBSD 3ware & Maxtor problems

Carroll Kong
Tue, 28 Sep 2004 20:37:02 -0000

https://www.3ware.com/kbadmin/attachments/TM900-0045-00%20Rev%20A_P.pdf

Recheck this URL
> > http://www.3ware.com/KB/article.aspx?id=10964

Well, I think some people just get the error, even without the riser cards.
So, either you replace your motherboard or replace your 3ware card with one
that has noise immunity, or try to run the slot at 33 mhz instead.

Call them up about it, as it is a well documented case, they probably should
not give you the run around on it (like they have for me).



- Carroll Kong
----- Original Message -----
From: "Philip Jenvey" <pjenvey@groovie.org>
To: "Carroll Kong" <me@carrollkong.com>
Cc: <freebsd-stable@freebsd.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2004 7:47 PM
Subject: Re: FreeBSD 3ware & Maxtor problems


> Carroll -
>
> Sure, I've cced -stable.
>
> I am actually using the card on a 66mhz bus (no riser card), and I just
> noticed the Knowledge Base article before you mailed me back. The PDF
> link you posted is broken.
>
> Is an RMA necessary in my case? It appears they are providing a
> firmware upgrade that's supposed to take care of the problem (and my
> firmware is older). Installing that is my next step.
>
>
> On Sep 28, 2004, at 4:36 PM, Carroll Kong wrote:
>
> > Is it okay if I cc this to the mailing lists?  I think a lot of people
> > might
> > benefit from this.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Philip Jenvey" <pjenvey@groovie.org>
> > To: <me@carrollkong.com>
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2004 6:52 PM
> > Subject: FreeBSD 3ware & Maxtor problems
> >
> >
> >> Carroll -
> >>
> >> I noticed your postings re your RAID with Maxtor disks.
> >>
> >> I'm having similar issues, with a 8506-4LP + 4 Maxtor
DiamondMax 9
> >> 160GBs. Basically I've been getting some kind of drive error
that
> >> typically leads to the system hanging, and causes the RAID to be
> >> degraded upon reboot. Most of the time I've been able to
rebuild and
> >> continue on.
> >
> > If you are using it in a 66 mhz slot, that is probably your problem
> > right
> > there.  If you are using riser cards, and the controller card was
> > purchased
> > before Q1 2004, then you need to buy a new riser card.  There is a
> > physical
> > bug with the card handling 66 mhz properly.  Even if you directly
> > connect to
> > the system, you can run into issues if the system mobo supports 66
> > mhz.  I
> > believe they will accommodate RMAs in this case.
> >
> > https://www.3ware.com/kbadmin/attachments/T...20Rev%20A_P.pdf
> > http://www.3ware.com/KB/article.aspx?id=10964
> >
> > Now, if none of that appiles to you, then the problem continues
> >
> > http://forums.storagereview.net/index.php?showtopic=14162
> >
> > Scroll to the last message.
> >
> > Implicitly they are saying that a lot of CRC errors can cause the
> > drive to
> > "drop a drive" from the array.  In my case, I am using an
older ATA
> > backplane which only supports ATA/33... I am suspecting the CRC errors
> > are
> > related to my backplane.  I am getting it swapped out tomorrow, so
> > hopefully
> > that will resolve that issue.  If not, I have to keep replacing
> > parts...
> > such as my controller card itself and/or the riser card (even though I
> > am
> > not affected by the 66 mhz issue).  I do get random harddisk dropping
> > out of
> > my array.  I am suspecting that if my controller gets one of these
> > major
> > drop outs during operation, it probably can result in a hard hang.
Bad
> > cables can cause this problem as well.
> >
> > Random loss of power to the disk might cause it to drop out of the
> > array as
> > well.
> >
> >> What's the latest you've found on this issue?
> >>
> >> I noticed you were playing with the smart monitoring tools, have
they
> >> shed any light on the subject? I'm planning to try them but
this RAID
> >> has been down for about a half day now (at this point I'm not
sure if
> >> a
> >> drive is dead or what, I seem to be getting errors on 2 different
> >> drives now).
> >
> > Smartctl helped me pre-emptively remove some disks that was failing,
> > however, that was not the problem.  Even after removing one bad disk
> > and
> > rebuilding the array, I still ran into the same problems.
> >
> >> Have you contacted 3ware at all about the problem?
> >
> > I have recently contacted 3ware by emailing the results from the 3Ware
> > cli
> > program.  If your 3dmd or 3dmd2 supports it, go to the
'alarms'
> > section and
> > download the extended errorlog file and send it off to them.  If you
> > do not
> > have this feature or all you see is /var/log/messages kind of output
> > then do
> > this.
> >
> > (do something like)
> > ./tw_cli
> > info c0 errorlog
> >
> > and copy that output to a file.  Also send them a copy of 3dmd's
> > technical
> > page.
> >
> > Write down some simple steps on what you did and how to repeat the
> > problem
> > if possible.
> >
> > Then email it off to
> > support@webrt.3ware.com
> >
> >> Thanks,
> >>
> >> --
> >> Philip Jenvey
> >
> >
> >
> > - Carroll Kong
> >
> >
> >
> --
> Philip Jenvey
>
>